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Sunday, 31 January 2016

This week at Valley Press: a call for Yorkshire poems

Dear readers,

I'll leap straight in this week with the biggest news: as part of our
Arts Council grant for 2016, we promised to publish a Yorkshire-themed
poetry anthology, and we are opening submissions for it today. Here's the official announcement, which you can feel free to spread around the internet:

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Call for submissions: Yorkshire poetry anthology (deadline: 31st May)

In October 2016, Yorkshire-based Valley Press
will publish an anthology of poetry which aims to document and
celebrate our multi-faceted home county. We are now searching for great
poems to feature in the book, from writers based anywhere in the world.
Poems can be on any subject or topic – a place, an incident, a person,
an idea – with only one rule: there must be some connection with the
county of Yorkshire. (If in any doubt as to where Yorkshire begins and
ends, consult this helpful map.)

Contributing poets will each receive a copy of the finished book, and a share of £900 in prize money/fees. We are
considering poems which have been published before, but the author must
be able to grant Valley Press non-exclusive rights to reproduce them in
this anthology (if in doubt, consult your previous publisher).

The anthology will be edited by York-based poet Miles Salter, and submissions (maximum three poems per author) should be sent to milesinyork@hotmail.com,
with the subject line 'Yorkshire Poetry Anthology', by 5pm on May 31st.
The featured poets will be announced by September 1st, and the book is
expected to be launched on National Poetry Day (Thursday 6th October).

Funding for this project has been generously provided by Arts Council
England. We look forward to seeing your poems – best of luck!

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In other news: I was delighted by the response to last
week's newsletter – no great exodus of subscribers, plenty of emails of
support, and better still, lots of people taking advantage of the 'buy
one get one free' offer! Thanks folks!

To keep the goodwill going, I'll do another offer this week: anyone who buys our first hardback, Ex Libris
by David Hughes, can receive a second VP book free of charge. You
should be able to add a 'note to seller' at the checkout advising me
which book you'd like as your freebie (or say 'surprise me!') – but if
you can't find that button, just reply to this email and let me know
your choice.

I've chosen Ex Libris as Antony Dunn, the book's editor, is coming to Scarborough on February 11th for a reading at our favourite bookshop Wardle & Jones, and he's promised to read from David's book as well as his own collections. You can find details on that event here, and contact the bookshop for tickets, which are £5. I won't be featuring too
many events in these newsletters – as I worry about annoying the 95% of
subscribers who don't live anywhere near Scarborough! – but that will
be a really special evening.

Next week: the new website is coming, and it is looking good. Watch this space!